Conventional unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have limited flight time because their battery life is often limited to ten to thirty minutes at the most. When a battery is expended, the UAV must land, and the expended battery must be exchanged by a user or recharged before the UAV can operate again. Similarly, each UAV may carry a payload configured to perform a specific function such as capturing images of the operating environment, spreading pesticides, or transporting fuel. For each of these payloads, regular maintenance is required that typically involves frequent user interaction (e.g., users required to download captured images or refill a pesticide spray tank).
The necessity for frequent user interaction to maintain and exchange the batteries and payloads of the UAVs is not beneficial where extended duty times are required or where extended autonomous operation is desired for a fleet of UAVs.
Some conventional systems require the UAV to land on, or be moved to (manually or automatically), a position on a landing pad for autonomous operation on the UAV. For a larger UAV with low landing accuracy, the resources and cost required to move the larger UAV to the desired position on the landing pad is not practical for autonomous operation on the larger UAV.
In view of the foregoing, a need exists for an improved UAV base station system and method for autonomous exchange of UAV batteries in an effort to overcome the aforementioned obstacles and deficiencies of conventional UAV systems.
It should be noted that the figures are not drawn to scale and that elements of similar structures or functions are generally represented by like reference numerals for illustrative purposes throughout the figures. It also should be noted that the figures are only intended to facilitate the description of the preferred embodiments. The figures do not illustrate every aspect of the described embodiments and do not limit the scope of the present disclosure.